Venture out of the solar system, several more light years and down a black hole...This site is dedicated to the Sanacion series but seeks to share all things deep space, even local!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

HOW SCIENCE FICTION BECOMES SCIENCE REALITY

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said the following: “Science fiction is useful both for stimulating the imagination and for defusing fear of the future.” What a good remark. Scientists see the same movies we all do, read the same books, dream similar dreams, but then they do something we do not, they think of how to make them a reality.

Consider the two totally different concepts and where they came from and where scientists took them.

The first concept originated with Dr. Who and his Sonic Screwdriver. The Sonic Screwdriver, if you are unfamiliar with it, can unlock locks, do medical scans, operate most computers, and track alien life. Pretty cool and perhaps indispensable if you are a Time Lord; but put that through the mind of a scientist and what do you get? There is a Sonic Screwdriver, sort-of.

A scientist looked at this SciFi device and it made him think about ultrasound and how it could be utilized. The result so far? Scientists in Dundee, Scotland have developed a device that while it looks a bit different and doesn’t operate as a lock-pick it does do some amazing stuff. It can lift a rubber disc in an aqueous solution. Sound mundane? Not really. The fantastic part starts with being able to twist rather than push using ultrasonic waves. Still sound a little tame? With using this device surgeons are able to do certain ‘operations’ without opening the patient up. Additionally, it can be used to deliver medicine at the cellular level. Want more? Ultrasonic manipulation if the cells. Example: It has long been known that any brain surgery will result in some cognitive loss. There’s even a syndrome name for it: Post-Operative Cognitive Decline. We now know that there is some continued cellular growth in the brain, reworking some connections after say a stroke and certainly there would be a limited amount of what was lost coming back. Obviously it would be seen more the younger the patient. But with a device such as this ‘Sonic Screwdriver’ the surgery would not be invasive, or minimally so, thus avoiding the entire situation. Cool right? So what does it have to with space? Very little; unless you consider that whether in outer space or in a low gravity environment the colonist or astronaut can still require surgery. Cut them open? If it can be avoided in a no/low gravity environment certainly that would be better!

This device is how scientists can look at something in SciFi and allow it to morph in something do-able and with awesome benefits.

Now to an idea that originated with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, a powerful and touching movie that we all have seen. Who doesn’t know that memorable and inspiring bike scene where the bicycles flew in front of the full moon with the government agents in hot pursuit. Allow me to introduce the ‘Xplore Air Paralevo’. A bicycle that can fly.

How you ask? Well, there are two versions. One developed in Prague uses a large fan attached to the back of the rider with six battery powered propellers. Two are located in the front and two in the back and one on each side. If that doesn’t sound right for you, then British inventors have developed what they say is the first flying bicycle. This bike attaches to a small lightweight trailer that houses a giant fan, fuel for the vehicle’s engine and the fold-away wing. The trailer can be disconnected for normal use and then re-attached when it is time to take off. As a bike it travels at 15 mph but in the air it flies at 25mph. You decide if you still consider it a bike when you are in the air, but it would be very nice to skip over the traffic!

So, uses in space? Perhaps in a low gravity environment, but I included it for two reasons. One, it is interesting. Two, it demonstrates further how Science Fiction becomes Science Reality.

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Sanacion (sa·na·ción): The Black Hole Mission

A place where we can talk about what we think the future holds and what the universe holds.

Sanacion II: We Are The Aliens - Two words - SAVE RUFUS! - this is a story that is filled with adventure, part of which comes from what is the best and the worst of mankind. Oh, and Cicadas. Only here on Earth we see the every 17 years and while they make a lot of noise, they depart just as quickly. On Sanacion, a planet named for the ship that carried them so far, the Cicadas are over six feet tall.

AS ALWAYS I WILL BE STOPPING TO PAY A VISIT WITH SHORE LEAVE THIS AUGUST. I HAVE ALSO BEEN ASKED TO JOIN FARPOINT IN FEB AGAIN.

***Coming this fall is the next and perhaps the last in the Sanacion series - Sanacion III: Remnants of the Dome. A truly fitting resolution with ten times the action tent imes the space adventures and new aliens friend and foe...some live, some die, some ideas live on...Sanacion III worth the read; live it! READ THE ENTIRE SERIES!!!

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About Sanacion I & II

Sanación: A Black Hole Mission is a book about mankind’s need to leave the Earth if humans are to survive. Troubled by the need to wear protective gear and tote oxygen, years earlier the nations of the world declared a moratorium on war and together began to build 3 ships with 3 different technologies at a moon base. When solar flares and destructive tornados and other weather events force them to leave sooner than planned the mission begins with one strike already against them. From there they experience disaster at the lunar site and then when they finally can set sail, the adventure truly begins. Civilians and Military combine to make up the new inhabitants which number in the 100,000's. With all that tests their resolve, what will happen when they must face the black hole?